Labourer Inaugurates Escalator at Bengaluru Railway Station as Curfew Forces Minister to Give Event a Miss

Bengaluru: A new escalator at the Bengaluru railway station saw a special guest inaugurating it for the public on Saturday — the daughter of a labourer who worked at the site.

Due to the imposition of section 144 on the day of Ayodhya verdict, a public function that was scheduled for the event could not be organised. The event was set to be inaugurated by Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan.

However, the railway officials, who completed the work before time, decided to go ahead with the inauguration programme. The Railway staff invited 32-year-old Chandbibi, a labourer who has been working at the site for the last few months, and her daughter 10yr old Begum from Raichur for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"The target to complete the project was 3pm on November 10. We had placed a reverse counter at the worksite to monitor the progress. However, we were able to freeze the reverse counter one day, 11minutes and 57 seconds before the deadline," said Ashok Kumar Verma, DRM, South Western Railway.

A renovated AC waiting hall at platform 1 was also scheduled to be opened and was inaugurated by two senior citizen passengers waiting outside the hall.